1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for grinding heated materials and recovering gasses emitted from the materials during the grinding operation and, in particular, to a method and apparatus for treating hot coke.
2. The Prior Art
There has been a long history of use of coke in the production of energy. The coke has been delivered in a heated condition and then is used as a fuel source. However, in its initial form the coke is not particularly suitable for direct use as a gasification feedstock since its size is generally too large to gasify efficiently. Thus it is necessary to grind the coke and produce a slurry of the ground coke and water which, being in a semi fluid state, can be readily pumped for distribution to a gasifier. However, grinding of coke presents a number of problems. As mentioned above, the coke is initially heated and if it is immediately milled, then coke emits a substantial quantity of gas containing large amounts of sulfur and other materials deemed hazardous to the environment. If the coke is cooled to a condition wherein the undesirable environmentally hazardous gaseous products are not generated during milling, then expensive and mechanically unreliable solids cooling equipment must be used to lower the temperature of the coke.
The present invention provides a solution to the above dilemma by proposing a method and apparatus for handling coke at its normally elevated temperature with the coke being reduced to the desired size by milling and the vapors emitted therefrom being trapped in such a manner that they can be easily recovered.